Redevelopment of the former federal courthouse building and surrounding property in downtown Lafayette inched forward Friday.

Mayor-President Joel Robideaux issued an invitation Friday for developers to submit ideas to redevelop the site for commercial and residential uses, hoping to turn the long-vacant prime real estate into a revenue generator.

The old four-story building, built in 1958, occupies a large piece of land on Jefferson Street. When the new federal courthouse was built on Lafayette Street, Lafayette Consolidated Government bought the former courthouse in 2001 for $800,000 with a grant from the Lafayette Public Trust Financing Authority.

The building was used for office space for a while, but has remained vacant for several years, even though it is considered a prime location for redevelopment and costs local government thousands of dollars a year to maintain.

At one time, it was considered a good place to build a new parish courthouse, but voters in 2006 rejected a new property tax to fund construction and the money hasn't been found since.

In June, a team of urban planners assembled by the Urban Land Institute studied Lafayette's downtown and interviewed dozens of local people, publishing its findings in a report that identified the renewal of the old federal courthouse property as important to furthering the revitalization of downtown.

Robideaux, in the request for qualifications issued Friday, said downtown has seen a revival but further revitalization has been slowed because of the lack of housing.

The RFQ responses are due April 9. A short list of applicants will be interviewed May 4. Afterwards, the Lafayette City-Parish Council would have to authorize administration to negotiate with the selected developer and approve any action.

Former City-Parish President Joel Durel brought the issue to the council several times, to no avail. His 2015-16 budget included money to demolish the old courthouse and sell the land for private development, but that was never done.

The site being considered for redevelopment is bounded by Jefferson Street on the west, Lee Street on the east, East Main Street on the north and the Downtown Development Authority building to the south.

It includes about two acres of land with three buildings: the old federal courthouse, the former Acadiana Open Channel building and the former police station.